Was the Forbidden Fruit Really an Apple?

On the Identity of the Tree of Knowlege

Apples have gotten a bad rap, especially in religious art, for their depiction as the forbidden fruit. So let the record stand clear that while there are various opinions as to the fruit’s identity, it most certainly was not an apple. (More about this later.)

Our sages write that the Torah obscures the identity of the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden out of concern that people will constantly point and say, “That is the species of fruit that brought death unto the world.”1 Nevertheless, the sages offer various opinions based on clues found in the Torah.

Wheat: Wheat represents knowledge in Torah thought, because a child is considered to have attained a certain level of intellectual maturity only after he or she has tasted wheat.2

According to this opinion, wheat was originally meant to grow on a tree, not as a grain, but as bread already baked. After the sin, this tree which would grow ready-made baked goods was reduced to a lowly plant which had to be harvested and processed to produce flour. In the future, when the sin of the forbidden fruit will be rectified, the Tree of Knowledge will be restored to its former glory.3

Grapes or Wine: There is no fruit that can cause as much misery as the grape and its wine.4 According to the Zohar, Noah planted grapes upon leaving the Ark in an attempt to rectify the sin of the forbidden fruit.5

Some women have the custom of not partaking in the wine of havdalah6 based on the opinion that the forbidden fruit may have been grapes.7

Fig: The fig tree plays a well-known role in Adam and Eve’s story, providing clothing rather than nourishment, and some commentators suggest there may be a connection: “By that with which they were made low were they rectified.”8

The Midrash gives the parable of a king’s son who disgraced himself with one of the maidservants. When the king heard of it, he deprived his son of high rank and expelled him from the palace. The son then went about to the doors of the other maidservants, and none would take him in. But she who disgraced herself with him opened the door of her house and received him.

“So, too, when Adam ate of that tree, the Holy One deprived him of his lofty status and expelled him from the Garden of Eden. Adam then went about among all the trees, but none would let him take even one leaf . . . But the fig tree whose fruit Adam had eaten opened its doors [so to speak] and received him, as is said,9 ‘They sewed fig leaves together.’”10

Etrog (citron): The verse states that “the woman saw that the tree was good to eat.”11 This implies that not only did the fruit of the tree have a good taste, but the wood of the tree itself had a good taste. This is true only with regards to the etrog tree.12

Furthermore, etrog is related to the Aramaic word for “desire.” Thus, in the verse “G‑d caused to spring up from the soil every type of tree, desirable to look at and good to eat . . . ,”13 the Targum translates the word “desirable” as dimeragag, which shares a root with the word etrog.14

This is the source for the custom that some pregnant women have, to bite off the tip of an etrog on the last day of Sukkot as a remedy to ease the pains of labor.15

Nut: Rabbi AmramGaon identifies the forbidden fruit as a nut, and mentions it in one of the blessings recited during the marriage ceremony in his siddur.16

Some commentators explain that in truth, the prohibition of eating the forbidden fruit either included in it all of the different opinions mentioned in the Talmud (i.e., grape, wheat, fig), or was a unique fruit which was a blend of all of them.17

As for apples, the modern consensus seems to be that the source of this misconception is that the Latin word mălum, meaning “evil,” was associated with mālum, another Latin word, borrowed from Greek, meaning “apple.”

There is in fact no obligation for anyone but the person who recites havdalah to drink the wine. The issue is about women specifically not drinking from it, as opposed to men, who may drink from it if they wish, as some have the custom to do. Additionally, some are of the opinion that based on this, if a woman were in a situation where she needed to make havdalah herself, it is preferable she use one of the other permitted beverages. The majority opinion, however, is that in such a case she should indeed recite havdalah on wine, and drink the wine herself.

R. Yeshayah Halevi Horowitz, Shaloh, end of Masechet Shabbat, Torah Ohr (cited by Magen Avraham, Orach Chaim 296:4): “The Tree of Knowledge was a grapevine, from which Eve squeezed wine in order to separate from man, which corresponds with niddah, menstrual blood. She does not partake of the havdalah (separation) wine.”
Alternatively, Rabbi Yeshayah Viner, Bigdei Yesha 296:4, explains that the 39 prohibited forms of work on Shabbat are parallel to the 39 curses that came because of the snake, and havdalah comes to permit work that was caused by Eve and what she did to the world. Hence women should avoid drinking the wine that is a reminder of her sin.
Still others explain that the reason behind the custom of women not drinking the havdalah wine are halachic considerations that are unique to havdalah, but which are beyond the scope of this article.

A noted scholar and researcher, Rabbi Yehuda Shurpin serves as content editor at Chabad.org, and writes the popular weekly Ask Rabbi Y column. Rabbi Shurpin is the rabbi of the Chabad Shul in St. Louis Park, Minn., where he resides with his wife, Ester, and their children.

Hello, I am not Jew but I will support the Jewish people for they are Hashem's chosen people. I have a question since there is no further mention of forbidden fruits, but one... Is it not possible that the tree simply was orlah fruit. Fruit of a tree not ready to be eaten, because it was not old enough? Hashem tells it after 3 years, the fruit of the 4th year is for Him and not for Adam. Thanks for the answer.
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FeigeleBoca RatonJanuary 20, 2020

in response to Buddy van Zutphen:

Thank you for your support. All these misconceptions about what fruit was eaten make no sense. No one today alive was there to suggest anything. If the 4th year of fruitfulness was for G-d, it's making allusions to charity for the poor. Like giving part of the crop to the poor. In another word, sharing your harvest in life
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emilioLisbonApril 22, 2018

I'd like to note that anthropologically, wheat and grains, if not already baked in a tree, meant a whole new society structure: division of work, human exploitation, birth of keeping and storage for the future, reserve of value, money, fear of the future, human control of the distribution of food... the trees planted by G-d where now silos planted and controlled by men... mandatory processing of food... silos where the first "national bank" with every implication... birth of cities and man conforming nature... and so many other implications... in my view this is really a hard in favor of wheat, even as an relationship to the tree of knowledge as a different path. Considered this way, the simple and "merely symbolic" apple issue this assumes major major importance.
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AnonymousHarareDecember 17, 2017

I just wonder why we would so much want to engage ourselves in trying to find out which fruit the forbidden fruit is when the Torah is silent about it. Our benefit from the story is the failure to take heed of God's instruction which we need to correct in our daily lives.let us note; the tree in question was one in the garden, got locked up where no one knows and have access to. There was a purpose to that effect. let's enjoy the edible fruit that we now have rather than try to pin point apple, wheat, etc with mythical stories attached.Had God wanted us to know the fruit He with no doubt could have done so.
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JohnFairfax StationMay 17, 2017

While studying Torah, I learned, according to the Kabbalah that there are 39 curses (10 for Adam, 10 for Chava, 10 for snake, and 9 for the earth). It is my understanding these curse are connected to sukkot during the Exodus.

How are they related? What are the curses given to Adam, Chava, the Snake, and the earth?
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hilligerbasse-terreOctober 14, 2015

that part of the world at that point in history
... had a different climate and vegetation. Paleontologists have proof that even Egypt and Saudi Arabia had humid subtropical or tropical vegetation and not so many thousand years ago: Grapes, figs, citrons and nuts grow in subtropical weather, only wheat doesn't grow naturally in subtropical conditions and degrades the soil. Hence most deserts such as North Africa or Atacama were granaries in the past, where people had to earn their bread with the sweat of the brow.
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pomegranite?
why not pommegranite since it looks, tastes and (in French) sounds like like an apple and is related both to the redeeming mitzvot and to the idea of many children as its many seeds. Also it has a protective covering so you really have to be determined to be disobedient to eat it.
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ruth housmanmarshfield hills, maOctober 9, 2015

the Pomegranate
the word Pomegranate contains the French word Pomme, which does mean Apple. I see the keys are in the words. So you could say this ancient, still cherished fruit, was the Fruit in the Garden. You don't take a bite of a pomegranate. You peel a pomegranate and there are many red seeds, which are sometimes very sweet and sometimes bittersweet, like life. Whatever the fruit, it is clear how our language is dominated by that Apple Story. I am typing on a Mac computer, and the logo of course is the bite of the apple, and we speak of bytes of information. As for Adam and Eve, we have these words in the Garden Language, Adam's "apple", Evening comes..I could do this endlessly. As for evening it has a doubling of meaning, as being about equality. Could it be, the prescient mind, the mind of a Master Storyteller bringing us all forward, knowing, one day, going down the lines we would see something more, and keep seeing something more? The road after all, does "snake".
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JeffArkansasOctober 8, 2015

Enlightening!
Any commentary on the pomegranate? I wonder about that, I have read a few things which might suggest it could have been one of those (also a tasty red fruit with connections to other pantheons). As far as the apple goes, I'm not even sure that those were cultivated in that part of the world at that point in history yet. The idea that the fruit could have been something now extinct is also something I hadn't considered, but is an interesting thought. Will definitely be bookmarking this for later, thanks for sharing!

*Is Catholic with a limited understanding of Judaism but actively looking to learn.
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Ike AlbertLondon October 8, 2015

Should women and wine be blamed for our ills.
This is really a great posting.I feel that women are generally being held responsible for the sin of the fruit. and that Evetempted Adam to eat it. If Eve had a choice to eat it or not, then so too Adam had the choice. The fact that he ate it was also his own choice. If he listened to his partner it was because it is well known that women by nature have a higher degree of spirituality than men and he was aware of this concept and followed her. It was his choice. There was no force.Regarding the Nidah concept of the squeezing of the wine as a means of separation, Hashem would not have considered us blessing the wine for Kiddush Hashem. But who can argue with the great Talmidim.I may have got it all wrong. I need to be enlightened.
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MelzoraOctober 8, 2015

Cashew Fruit
I have often wondered if it could have been the cashew fruit, because it is one of the few if not the only tree who's fruit does not contain the seed, the seed grows on the out side of the fruit in the form of the nut which the shell is toxic, but the seed inside the nut is the cashew that we all know and love. Just a thought.
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AnonymousNYCOctober 1, 2014

The sin was not in the fruit but the disobedience and wanting to be "like G-d".
Nothing personal here, but we are told to be Gd like, we are told to copy His ways, we are told to be Gd-like. Oh, except when it doesn't go well for us -- then, we're not supposed to be like Gd, not to copy His ways. Sure, I understand. Mostly, I understand that the people saying these things are ..... That wouldn't be nice for me to tell you what I think about them, but I assure you, it's nothing good.
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Phil HohnenThailandSeptember 30, 2014

Forbidden Fruit
The sin was not in the fruit but the disobedience and wanting to be "like G-d". This was Satan's sin too: he thought because he was smart, cunning and ambitious, that he could stage a coup d'etat in Heaven and usurp G-d's role as Creator and Ruler of the Universe.

Most modern scientists have fallen into the same trap, thinking by their limited understanding of the present, that they can extrapolate right back to Creation and substitute their mindless Big Bang- and Evolution-fables of 'soup to supermen' for the ingenuity of G-d's work, thus relegating the Word of G-d to obscurity.

Forbidden fruit is...
The forbidden fruit was grown on the tree of "knowledge" of good and evil. According to the botany class I took when I was a freshman in college, a fuit is defined as anything that has seeds. There is one particular "fruit" that changes my perspective and I feel as if I do have the knowledge of good and evil and this particular "fruit" is currently illegal in most states. But why is it illegal? This particular fruit does not bring any harm to anyone and if anything it can be very motivational if it is used properly. There is nothing wrong with this particular "fruit" but this is God's country, the land he promised us flowing with milk and honey, so it makes sense that the forbidden fruit would be illegal in this land. God has done so much for us on this land, blessed us with many resources for food and brains that enabled us to create homes and transportation. I really enjoy how I feel when im under the influence of what I think is the forbidden fruit but I try to avoid it because
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ShoshanaJerusalemSeptember 30, 2013

a cute story
I read about a young, religious Christian woman who approached a scantily dressed girl and handed her an apple. "Oh, thank you" said the girl, "but why are you giving me this apple?" "Well," answered the young woman, "Eve ate the apple and realized that she was naked!"
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ShoshanaJerusalemSeptember 30, 2013

P.S.
The story about the apple is a Christian story, not a Jewish one. It started with Christianity, a long time after we Jews came on the scene.

With all due respect to everyone's rights to their own religion and beliefs, etc., it doesn't make sense to think that story based on a mistranslation could possibly be right, when our great Talmudic Sages, (Chazal) have told us something else.

We Jews received the Torah, have studied the Torah, kept it, cherished it and died for it. It is our very life's blood. Talmudic sages to this day pour over every word from morning to night, in order to learn it's great truth and secrets, which were also taught to Moses on Mt. Sinai. Around every Shabbos table parents and children study Torah, questioning, probing, in order to understand it each time at a deeper level.

Countless millions of Jews over thousands of years have been engaged in this study and investigation, which is the most important thing in our lives. So maybe we are right?
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MarloweCanadaSeptember 28, 2013

Are we missing the point altogether?
I see two trees, one has Life, one has Knowledge of Good and Evil. The fruit of one is pure gift of G-d, the other is human wisdom laws and traditions. All of the self efforts to gain g-dlikeness through our knowledge and understanding, lead only to death. There is no life there. In the day that we rely on our efforts to grasp at right and wrong/good and evil is the day we die. Righteousness is and always has been a gift that G-d gives to those who trust him. The sin was not in consuming fruit, but in seeking our way instead of receiving G-d's provision.
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Kwanele Ngemasioux falls, SDSeptember 28, 2013

Silence
IT is amazing how we can say just one word and have it impact the universe without even knowing the actual meaning of it. We just gather puzzles to construct a word and then we spread it without deeply observing it. An apple is a very tasty fruit and that is why we eat it during Rosh Hashana. We call it apple without knowing its root and the real meaning of it which is 'evil'. Daily we speak, "I crave apple( 'evil')..." I find the importance of diligently study words before they're actually spoken. But we are just in a world that is governed by the society, if something is done by the society, then we feel it is good with us.... I learned more than just about a forbidden fruits in this lesson.... Thank you!
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Shoshana JerusalemSeptember 28, 2013

"please speak up"
First, I must tell you that I was really happy to read your comment of Oct. 18, 2012 saying that you have an abundance of joy and I wish you that until "120".

You went on to write "will the real G-d please speak up". He has spoken up, Ruth, in His Torah that was given to us 3,300 years ago on Mt. Sinai, an event witnessed by 3 million people.

In this Torah He tells us that we can not turn "to the left of to the right" of what we are told to do. We cannot make up our own interpretations but have to study in depth the explanations of Rashi, Rambam, Ramban, Iben Ezra, etc., and then maybe we can begin to understand the Torah.

On giving up one's life to save a pet, we also had pets and loved them. But for a human being, whose soul contains something of the Divine, being that G-d blew this soul into him, to give up this life to save an animal is a desecration of all that is Divine within him and is the opposite of holy and a misunderstanding of the importance and holiness of life
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Phil HohnenChiang Mai, ThailandOctober 22, 2012

Loss of innocence
Hi RuthOur children give us joy too and pain. Following your heart is better than most achieve. May G-d continue to bless you and lead you in all that you do. The real G-d does speak up in His infallible, truthful Word. I call my "coincidences" the Hand of G-d.
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